02Jan16

Vietnam protests after China lands plane on disputed Spratlys

Vietnam formally accused China of violating its sovereignty and a recent
confidence-building pact on Saturday by landing a plane on an airstrip Beijing
has built in a contested part of the South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said China had conducted a test-flight to
the airfield, "built illegally on Fiery Cross Reef, which is part of Vietnam's
Spratlys".

In a statement, he called it "a serious infringement of the sovereignty of Vietnam
on the Spratly archipelago, contrary to the common perception of high-ranking
leaders of the two countries and (to) an agreement on the basic principles for
directly solving maritime issues between Vietnam and China".

Vietnam handed a protest note to China's embassy and asked China not to
repeat the action, Binh said.

The two communist-led states' competing claims in the South China Sea came to
a head in 2014 when Beijing parked an oil rig off the Vietnamese coast, leading
to anti-China riots.

Late last year, China completed an airfield on Fiery Cross Reef that security
experts say could accommodate most Chinese military aircraft.

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Hanoi in November, at a time of uncertainty
over what kind of leader will emerge from this month's five-yearly congress of
the Vietnamese communist party, traditionally close to Beijing but now getting
intense Western attention, from the United States in particular.

Both sides agreed during Xi's visit to maintain peace in the sea and build a
relationship of trust.

China claims almost all the South China Sea, which is believed to have huge
deposits of oil and gas, and through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade
passes every year, and has been building up military facilities on the islands it
controls.

As well as Vietnam and China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan also
have claims.

[Source: Reuters, Hanoi, 02Jan16]

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